The Fellowship of the Ring
The Fellowship of the Ring is the first third of JRR Tolkien's epic fantasy classic The Lord of the Rings. But you probably already knew that. These books are pervasive, especially since the release of the movies nearly a decade ago.
I read this book first when I was thirteen. And I didn't quite get it. The story is fun and interesting, but the world is so rich that I got bogged down. I couldn't keep Aragorn's five names straight. I didn't quite understand that the Nazgul and the Ringwraiths were the same thing. I conflated Saruman and Sauron and processed both names as Sa__r__on which led to lots on confusion.
But I liked what I understood of the story. The hobbits were awesome. The adventure was exciting. The myriad cultures were interesting.
The movies started coming out a few years later and really helped with my comprehension of the story. I finally sorted everything out and understood what was happening. Now that I'm revisiting the books, I'm getting a lot more enjoyment out of them.
It probably helps that I'm reading along with Mark Reads. Confining myself to a chapter a day is helping me reflect on each bit of the story. By forcing myself to slow down, I'm able to appreciate the books a lot more. (It didn't help that the first time I read them, I was racing my best friend to see who could finish first.) And the knowledgeable people who comment on that blog are able to fill in any gaps that remain in my knowledge.
The commenters at Mark Reads are pretty amazing. They provide artwork, translate the elfish, summarize Middle-Earth histories and are willing to answer any questions that came up. I really can't praise them enough for contributing so much to my enjoyment of FotR.
The richness of Middle Earth is what I liked most this time through. All of the songs are gorgeous, even if a couple of them took me two or three read-throughs to understand. The history is detailed and effects what the fellowship is attempting to do both directly (Isildur killed Sauron, but didn't destroy the ring) and indirectly (Tinuviel and Beren set the precedent that makes Arwen and Aragorn's relationship possible)
Occasionally the story gets slow and plodding. Scenery is described in detail and some of the characters are irritatingly verbose. But if you can sit through the more tedious passages (or skip them), you will definitely be rewarded by an exciting story in an incredible world. This is one of those books that gets better the more times you read it. There's definitely a reason it is so beloved by so many people.
I read this book first when I was thirteen. And I didn't quite get it. The story is fun and interesting, but the world is so rich that I got bogged down. I couldn't keep Aragorn's five names straight. I didn't quite understand that the Nazgul and the Ringwraiths were the same thing. I conflated Saruman and Sauron and processed both names as Sa__r__on which led to lots on confusion.
But I liked what I understood of the story. The hobbits were awesome. The adventure was exciting. The myriad cultures were interesting.
The movies started coming out a few years later and really helped with my comprehension of the story. I finally sorted everything out and understood what was happening. Now that I'm revisiting the books, I'm getting a lot more enjoyment out of them.
It probably helps that I'm reading along with Mark Reads. Confining myself to a chapter a day is helping me reflect on each bit of the story. By forcing myself to slow down, I'm able to appreciate the books a lot more. (It didn't help that the first time I read them, I was racing my best friend to see who could finish first.) And the knowledgeable people who comment on that blog are able to fill in any gaps that remain in my knowledge.
The commenters at Mark Reads are pretty amazing. They provide artwork, translate the elfish, summarize Middle-Earth histories and are willing to answer any questions that came up. I really can't praise them enough for contributing so much to my enjoyment of FotR.
The richness of Middle Earth is what I liked most this time through. All of the songs are gorgeous, even if a couple of them took me two or three read-throughs to understand. The history is detailed and effects what the fellowship is attempting to do both directly (Isildur killed Sauron, but didn't destroy the ring) and indirectly (Tinuviel and Beren set the precedent that makes Arwen and Aragorn's relationship possible)
Occasionally the story gets slow and plodding. Scenery is described in detail and some of the characters are irritatingly verbose. But if you can sit through the more tedious passages (or skip them), you will definitely be rewarded by an exciting story in an incredible world. This is one of those books that gets better the more times you read it. There's definitely a reason it is so beloved by so many people.
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